Scottish Power not giving back money

DarkWatcher

Hi all,

I moved house in November. I called up Scottish Power within 3 days of the move (as advised on their website) and informed them of the change. I was told that this would all go ahead and my account would be cancelled. Three weeks later I logged in to my online account to find I was in credit by almost £150 because of my high direct debit payments. (Great!). Asked when I should cancel my direct debit as it was showing the next amount due to be taken in 5 days time. I got a response confirming that my account had been closed and that the final bill was being sorted with my actual readings and the money would then be sent back to me. I was told to go ahead and cancel my direct debit.



Fast forward a bit and I notice that I was billed on 5th December and the 1st January. I called up and complained and they said "sorry, a fault with the system meant the account wasn't closed properly and continued with estimated billing. They reversed the erroneous bills and told me that it was being handed to the back office to complete. I would get the money in 5 working days.


Two weeks later I log in to my online banking and see the money isn't there. I log into my online account with Scottish Power and see a bill for 28th January and an account balance of £1.50 (in debit).


I call up again and after an hour on hold get the explanation that a fault means they they have kept giving me estimated bills from 4th November (my move date) onwards. The back office are dealing with it but a fault with the system means they can't do it at the moment. If I was 3 months late in paying them £150 I would be incurring all sorts of penalties, but they can't even tell me when this might be resolved. Argh! I'm paying for electricity I haven't used in a house I don't own and am not responsible for despite having followed their rules to the letter.


I am compiling a folder of bills, emails and screen shots to send to the appropriate ombudsman just as soon as I can type in a calm manner that doesn't end in psychotic rage. :mad:


Does anyone have any specific advice about who I should be complaining to?


Needless to say, I will be avoiding Scottish Power like the proverbial plague in future. A pity, given that I was happy enough with them when I was an actual customer.

matelodave

You have to write to them marking it "complaint" and then they've got 8 weeks to sort it out before you can go to the ombudsman unless you get a deadlock letter (meaning they can't resolve your problem). So get you complaint letter in to start the clock ticking. Ideally send it by recorded delivery as well so you've got proof that they received it. E-mails & phone calls are useless, they all go into a black hole.


It took me nearly 10 weeks to get my money back from them after I swapped away. I got a deadlock letter the day I received my credit.